I’m just going to do a couple big paragraphs, at the beginning I’ll put my general question, and at the end I’ll ask for help studying. If you could help answer any of these it would be appreciated.
To start, just some very general things I need clarified. I am almost done with Genki lesson 7, which goes over Te form. Adding Te form to the end of a sentence makes it a request. Replacing the Te with Ta makes it an impolite paste tense or informal. Is there a present tense The form or something? If I got any of that information wrong please let me know
Lastly, I feel like I’m making almost no progress. I’m in my last year of highschool and I started studying last year, I didn’t study that much only really learn hiragana and katakana and past tense. This year I started again after a long break. I’ve been trying to do 5 hours a week, one hour a day on week days. I feel like I’m learning nothing. It’s been months and I’ve only really learned adjectives and Te form. Am I studying too little?
I’ve really been putting off vocabulary but it’s more prevalent now in the later chapters of the book. I started using Anki and it’s really boring. Any alternatives? Also how much is too much. I also feel like I forget vocabulary very easily. I do the exercises, and then once the new chapter comes around and I stop using the Vocabulary I seem to forget a lot of it. Should I just do more flashcards?
I really feel like I need a teacher so I’ll know if I’m studying correctly, or am I just not doing enough? Any thoughts or answers would be appreciated, thank you!
2 comments
For grammar try looking at other resources too because having something explained in multiple ways helps it stick better. I know there’s a youtuber who goes over genki that people like called toki andy but I haven’t watched him. I like cure dolly, imabi, dictionary of japanese grammar, and tae kim’s grammar guide.
I’d definitely recommend doing flashcards or anki or something to help you keep the vocab.
If you’re struggling and can afford an italki tutor it would probably help. I didn’t use tutors for learning grammar and vocab, I just use them for conversation practice and questions, but I know some people like being taught grammar by a person. Having them teach you everything could be pretty expensive though.
You need to reset your expectations around time and chill out. It’s predicted to be 4000 hours to get to N1. You’re doing 260 hours a year. N1 is a good level but even then you don’t understand *everything*. Japanese takes a long time. Whether this is fast enough is up to you and your circumstances.
– Japanese tutor and teacher here!
To start, just some very general things I need clarified. I am almost done with Genki lesson 7, which goes over Te form. Adding Te form to the end of a sentence makes it a request. Replacing the Te with Ta makes it an impolite paste tense or informal. Is there a present tense The form or something? If I got any of that information wrong please let me know
– て is a particle that doesn’t carry a tense. The end of a sentence is what would determine the tense of the sentence.
– た is informal, not impolite.
Lastly, I feel like I’m making almost no progress. I’m in my last year of highschool and I started studying last year, I didn’t study that much only really learn hiragana and katakana and past tense. This year I started again after a long break. I’ve been trying to do 5 hours a week, one hour a day on week days. I feel like I’m learning nothing. It’s been months and I’ve only really learned adjectives and Te form. Am I studying too little?
– It’s a new conjugation and they’ll just keep coming at this point. The next few chapters (I think up to Chapter 9) do touch on it every so often. The more consistently you study and work on not only just studying but USING the language, the easier it gets.
I’ve really been putting off vocabulary but it’s more prevalent now in the later chapters of the book. I started using Anki and it’s really boring. Any alternatives? Also how much is too much. I also feel like I forget vocabulary very easily. I do the exercises, and then once the new chapter comes around and I stop using the Vocabulary I seem to forget a lot of it. Should I just do more flashcards?
– Anything for vocabulary works. There are dozens of free Quizlets which might be more fun.
I really feel like I need a teacher so I’ll know if I’m studying correctly, or am I just not doing enough? Any thoughts or answers would be appreciated, thank you!
– It seems like you’re doing okay. My high schoolers probably put in about the same amount of effort, more or less. If you hire a tutor they can probably give you more practice and direct advice on how to improve, plus push you a bit further than you are pushing yourself. It’s natural to kind of hit a plateau or a wall. Just keep going.